


Watch My Back

by aliencereal



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Declarations Of Love, F/M, Fluff, Post-Battle, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 11:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2228046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliencereal/pseuds/aliencereal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tabris realizes something, as her battle high fades.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watch My Back

It isn't until the battle is over, the blood starting to cool on her face, that Tabris realizes that something is _different_. She usually comes down from her combat high with her back to a wall, or a tree, or really anything that covers the parts of her she can't protect with her monstrous shield. She's not bad with battle tactics, but her own place on the field tends to be giving instructions and trying not to lose any bits of herself.

It doesn't keep her from getting mobbed, usually because she's screaming herself hoarse at darkspawn to keep them off Wynne and Leliana, but she never lets her back go unprotected.

Except that she's as far from cover as she possibly can be when the last hurlock falls. She wipes blood off her face with the back of her hand and takes in her surroundings. She's breathing heavily and sweating profusely; that had been a Maker-forsaken _horde_. But even so, she doesn't feel the sense of panic she gets when she finds herself disadvantaged in the heat of battle.

Then she sees Alistair. He's looking a little worse for wear, but it isn't his physical state that's surprising. It's that he's standing just behind her, quite literally watching her back. He grins at her, probably still riding the adrenalin, and Tabris remembers him taking that position, sliding easily into rear guard for her without being asked.

And she'd let him; she hadn't even questioned it enough to cement the moment into her memory. She'd trusted him implicitly and without thought.

It hits her all at once. Her chest clenches with violent emotion and now she _really_ can't catch her breath. Without her notice, he'd slipped into the little pocket of her world that contains the people whose loyalty she doesn't even subconsciously question, with her father and her cousins and her dog. She believes, deep down in her gut, that this man will not only never hurt her, but will protect her with his life.

She _trusts_ him.

She starts laughing with an edge of hysteria. It's really either that or start crying. It gets the attention of their whole party; she hears Leliana's concerned words, sees the flash of Wynne's healing magic, feels Alistair's hand come down on her shoulder. She waves them all off and sits down clumsily, not caring that she's putting herself in a puddle of darkspawn blood.

“Tabris?” Alistair's worried voice sounds miles away, but Tabris leans back on her hands and tilts her head to look at him. The sky's bright and blue behind his blood-spattered face; he's frowning at her but the moment still feels ethereal. She smiles up at him past her filthy, tangled bangs.

“I love you,” She says plainly. She's never said it before, but it flows from her like water.

She watches as Alistair's expression and body language shift. His eyes widen to a comical extent, and he goes red. She likes the way he blushes, the way it leaks into his ears and down his neck like there isn't enough space for it on his face. His tense shoulders relax when she smiles but come back up when she _talks_ , as he processes what she's just said. She sees his adam's apple move when he swallows, but then the corners of his mouth twitch and that's all she can focus on.

Uncontrollable, unbridled _joy_ blossoms across Alistair's face and Tabris loves him, loves him, _loves_ him.


End file.
